Whether or not it was legal – and there are doubts – President Trump’s decision to bypass Congress and shift money around in order to pay the U.S. military during the government shutdown was an adept political move.

Indeed, since the shutdown began, Democrats had used October 15 th – the date troops were set to miss paychecks – as a pressure point, assuming Republicans did not want to be responsible for that happening.

Now, the GOP has sidestepped that hurdle, and Democrats remain, as Politico put it, “in a GOP shutdown vise.”

To that end, as the shutdown passes its third week, polls have begun capturing how Americans feel about the current situation, including who is to blame and who is handling it best.

Historically, the party in power tends to shoulder more of the blame, a

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